On the Three Levels of ZHANG Da qian’s Ink splash Painting

With his unique ink splash technique in his late years, ZHANG Da qian outstood in the Chinese painting circle and became an innovative painter. To his expressiveness of his landscapes, his ink splash has the following functions: taking color as ink and his brush as splasher, taking ink as the background and the color as highlight, splashing color and achieving great works, and the color brush leading to abstract painting. The employment of these techniques all contribute to the manifestation of his three levels of ink splash. In particular, some of his ink splash works have reached to the top: expressing form with form and showing color with color. This marked the transformation from his traditional style to the modern one.